4% – 5% return and a higher Age Pension
Published 24 March 2020
How do you get an annual return of 4 to 5 per cent on your savings and how do you get 40 per cent of your savings exempted from pension means teasting? Read all about it.
Stimulus should benefit 185,000 seniors on Newstart and anyone else on Newstart
Published 6 March 2020
“Now is the time to give the poorest of the poor a meaningful rise in their Newstart Allowance, which tracks 40% below the pension for singles and 27% for couples”, said CPSA Policy Manager Paul Versteege.
Pensioners want Government action on mandatory nursing home staffing levels now
Published 27 February 2020
Pensioners call on the Australian Government to act immediately to fix the crisis in nursing home staffing following the recommendations of Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Royal Commission: Make nursing home staff ratios mandatory!
Published 25 February 2020
The biggest issue in residential aged care is staffing. Nursing home providers are against mandatory staff ratios, but unions and every right-thinking community group in Australia are in favor. Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is siding with the latter in his recommendations to the Commissioners. [more]
A good alternative to term deposits
Published 25 February 2020
If you or someone you know is persisting with term deposits in the face of laughably low interest rates, there may be an alternative that is almost as safe but pays a lot more.
Getting rid of stamp duty can get you into a better house
Published 25 February 2020
Economists love land tax because of its efficiency but it's hated just as much by those who point out its regressive nature, not unlike the GST. Who is right?
Financial advice after the Banking Royal Commission
Published 25 February 2020
Financial advise is becoming less conflicted but the old problem of finding a good financial adviser or planner remains.
Measly pension increases here to stay
Published 25 February 2020
Every March and every September full rate pensioners hang out for their increase in the pension but it's been a disappointment for years and it is likely to disappointment for the foreseeable future.
Super rate debate ignores 13% effective contribution rate
Published 25 February 2020
Participants in the great superannuation guarantee debate forget that the actual money put aside each year to fund retirements exceeds the 12 per cent super funds dream of.
Unemployment of over-45s surges
Published 25 February 2020
The Australian Government is big on a job being the best form of welfare, but if you're too old to get on an electric bike to deliver for Uber Eats as a casual, the Government doesn't want to know you.
How is your Home Care Package going?
Published 25 February 2020
Getting care at home has become a very complicated business and it doesn't stop once you're finally in the system. Some startling stats about home care.
NSW buried under funeral reviews
Published 25 February 2020
Who pays for the mowing and the whipper-snippering once a cemetery is full? Five years since its creation, the NSW Cemeteries and Crematoria Board has made no headway solving the problem of who will pay for the maintenance of cemeteries once they reach capacity. [more]
Turning nursing homes into tourist traps
Published 28 January 2020
NURSING homes these days offer top-ups of standard services. Such top-ups vary across facilities and can be anything, such as toiletries, upgraded meal choices, massages and entertainment. Problem is in many cases residents are forced to buy these services and they are charged against their nursing home bonds. [more]
Home Care smoke and mirrors
Published 28 January 2020
THE home care waiting list continues to be laughably long and reductions are overwhelming due to people dying. Government action achieves marginal improvements only.
Reportable nursing home assaults up 83% in two years
Published 28 January 2020
THE notion of a reportable assault implies that there assaults which need not be reported. [more]
Aged Care Royal Commission raps Minister over the knuckles
Published 28 January 2020
THE Minister denies he is trying to privatise aged care assessment in Australia, saying he is merely putting it out to open tender and, oh, the Aged Care Royal Commission supports this. The Royal Commission once again begged to differ. [more]
Medical specialists’ website turns out a failure as predicted
Published 28 January 2020
ASKING medical specialists to be open about how much they charge is a reasonable demand. Expecting them to do so was always going to be pointless as a website developed for the purpose of fee comparison shows.
One in three advance care directives in nursing homes prove pointless
Published 28 January 2020
RESEARCH led by Advance Care Planning Australia found almost a third of Advance Care Directives (ACDs) audited in Australian residential aged care facilities to be invalid and unable to be used to guide treating doctors.
Funeral provider ripping off the dead
Published 28 January 2020
INVOCARE, one of the largest funeral providers in Australia, has taken the idea of being late for your own funeral to the next level and assumed that, even if you're not late, it will charge you a late fee!
Cheques are checking out
Published 28 January 2020
Cheques are checking out and king cash is thinking about abdication, but we're not quite there yet.
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